Chakma alphabet

Last updated
Chakma
Chakma Letter-Biplob Rahman.jpg
Type
Languages Chakma language
Parent systems
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924 Cakm, 349
Unicode alias
Chakma
U+11100U+1114F

The Chakma alphabet (Ajhā pāṭh), also called Ojhapath, Ojhopath, Aaojhapath, is an abugida used for the Chakma language.

Abugida writing system

An abugida, or alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system in which consonant–vowel sequences are written as a unit: each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel notation is secondary. This contrasts with a full alphabet, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is absent, partial, or optional. The terms also contrast them with a syllabary, in which the symbols cannot be split into separate consonants and vowels. Abugidas include the extensive Brahmic family of scripts of South and Southeast Asia, Semitic Ethiopic scripts, and Canadian Aboriginal syllabics.

Chakma language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Chakma and Daingnet people. Its better-known closest relatives are Assamese, Hajong, Bengali, Chittagonian, and Bishnupriya Manipuri of Manipur, Tanchangya, and Sylheti. It is spoken by nearly 310,000 people in southeast Bangladesh in Chittagong Hill Tracts, and another 300,000 in India in Assam and Tripura and 40,265 in Mizoram. It is written using the Chakma script, which is also called Ajhā pāṭh, sometimes romanised Ojhopath. Literacy in Chakma script is low.

Contents

Origin

The Chakma alphabet is probably descended from Brahmi through Pallava. Proto Chakma developed around the 6th century CE. Old Chakma developed in the 8th century CE. Classical Literary Chakma was used in the 11th to 15th centuries and the current Standard Chakma was developed and revived in the 20th century.[ citation needed ]

Classical Chakma was probably a sister script of Tai Tham and Tai Lue scripts of Northern Thailand also from the 8th century CE.[ citation needed ]

Thailand Constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly known as Siam, is a country at the center of the Southeast Asian Indochinese peninsula composed of 76 provinces. At 513,120 km2 (198,120 sq mi) and over 68 million people, Thailand is the world's 50th largest country by total area and the 21st-most-populous country. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, a special administrative area. Thailand is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Myanmar. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest. Although nominally a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, the most recent coup in 2014 established a de facto military dictatorship.

Structure

Chakma is of the Brahmic type: the consonant letters contain an inherent vowel. Unusually for Brahmic scripts, the inherent vowel in Chakma is a long 'ā' () as opposed to short 'a' (ə) which is standard in most other languages of India such as Hindi, Marathi or Tamil. Consonant clusters are written with conjunct characters, and a visible vowel killer shows the deletion of the inherent vowel when there is no conjunct.

The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front and back, it is normally written ⟨a⟩. If precision is required, it can be specified by using diacritics, such as centralized ⟨ä⟩ or retracted ⟨⟩.

Hindi language in India

Hindi, or Modern Standard Hindi is a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, is one of the official languages of India, along with the English language. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Republic of India. However, it is not the national language of India because no language was given such a status in the Indian constitution.

Marathi language Indo-Aryan language; a constitutionally-recognised Indian language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken predominantly by around 83 million Marathi people of Maharashtra, India. It is the official language and co-official language in the Maharashtra and Goa states of Western India, respectively, and is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. There were 83 million speakers in 2011; Marathi ranks 19th in the list of most spoken languages in the world. Marathi has the third largest number of native speakers in India, after Hindi and Bengali. Marathi has some of the oldest literature of all modern Indian languages, dating from about 900 AD. The major dialects of Marathi are Standard Marathi and the Varhadi dialect. Koli, Malvani Konkani has been heavily influenced by Marathi varieties.

Vowels

Four independent vowels exist: 𑄃 a, 𑄄 i, 𑄅 u, and 𑄆 e. Other vowels in initial position are formed by adding the vowel sign to 𑄃 a, as in 𑄃𑄩 ī, 𑄃𑄫 ū, 𑄃𑄭 ai, 𑄃𑄰 oi. Some modern writers are generalizing this spelling in 𑄃𑄨 i, 𑄃𑄪 u, and 𑄃𑄬 e.

Chakma vowel signs with the letter 𑄇ka are given below:

𑄇 Ka = 𑄇 Ka

𑄇𑄧 Ka = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄧 - a (11127)

𑄇𑄨 Ki = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄨 - i (11128)

𑄇𑄩 Kī = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄩 - ī (11129)

𑄇𑄪 Ku = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄪 - u (1112A)

𑄇𑄫 Kū = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄫 - ū (1112B)

𑄇𑄬 Ke = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄬 - e (1112C)

𑄇𑄭 Kāi = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄭 - āi (1112D)

𑄇𑄮 Ko = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄮 - o (1112E)

𑄇𑄯 Kau = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄯 - au (1112F)

𑄇𑄰 Koi = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄰 - oi (11130)

𑄇𑄀 Kaṃ = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄀 - ṃ (11100)

𑄇𑄁 Kaṃ = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄁 - ṃ (11101)

𑄇𑄂 Kaḥ = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄂 - ḥ (11102)

𑄇𑄴 K = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄴 - MAAYYAA (11134)

One of the interesting features of Chakma writing is that candrabindu (cānaphudā) can be used together with anusvara (ekaphudā) and visarga (dviphudā):

𑄃𑄂𑄀 Aḥṃ = 𑄃 ā + 𑄂 h + 𑄀ṃ

𑄃𑄁𑄀 Aṃṃ = 𑄃 ā + 𑄁 ṃ + 𑄀ṃ

𑄅𑄁𑄀 Uṃṃ = 𑄅 u + 𑄁 ṃ + 𑄀ṃ

𑄟𑄪𑄀 Muṃ = 𑄟 mā + 𑄪 u + 𑄀ṃ

Consonants with killed Vowels and Conjunct Consonants

Like other Brahmic scripts, Chakma makes use of the maayyaa (killer) to invoke conjoined consonants. In the past, practice was much more common than it is today. Like the Myanmar script, Chakma is encoded with two vowel-killing characters in order to conform to modern user expectations. As shown above, most letters have their vowels killed with the use of the explicit maayyaa:

𑄇𑄴 k = 𑄇 kā + 𑄴 MAAYYAA

In 2001 an orthographic reform was recommended in the book Cāṅmā pattham pāt which would limit the standard repertoire of conjuncts to those composed with the five letters 𑄠 yā, 𑄢 rā, 𑄣 lā, 𑄤 wā, and 𑄚 nā. The four here are the most widely accepted repertoire of conjuncts.

ya: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄠 yā

𑄇𑄳𑄠 𑄈𑄳𑄠 𑄉𑄳𑄠 𑄊𑄳𑄠 𑄋𑄳𑄠 - 𑄌𑄳𑄠 𑄍𑄳𑄠 𑄎𑄳𑄠 𑄏𑄳𑄠 𑄐𑄳𑄠 - 𑄑𑄳𑄠 𑄒𑄳𑄠 𑄓𑄳𑄠 𑄔𑄳𑄠 𑄕𑄳𑄠

𑄖𑄳𑄠 𑄗𑄳𑄠 𑄘𑄳𑄠 𑄙𑄳𑄠 𑄚𑄳𑄠 - 𑄛𑄳𑄠 𑄜𑄳𑄠 𑄝𑄳𑄠 𑄞𑄳𑄠 𑄟𑄳𑄠 - 𑄦𑄳𑄠 𑄠𑄳𑄠 𑄡𑄳𑄠 𑄢𑄳𑄠 𑄤𑄳𑄠 𑄥𑄳𑄠

ra: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄢

𑄇𑄳𑄢 𑄈𑄳𑄢 𑄉𑄳𑄢 𑄊𑄳𑄢 𑄋𑄳𑄢 - 𑄌𑄳𑄢 𑄍𑄳𑄢 𑄎𑄳𑄢 𑄏𑄳𑄢 𑄐𑄳𑄢 - 𑄑𑄳𑄢 𑄒𑄳𑄢 𑄓𑄳𑄢 𑄔𑄳𑄢 𑄕𑄳𑄢

𑄖𑄳𑄢 𑄗𑄳𑄢 𑄘𑄳𑄢 𑄙𑄳𑄢 𑄚𑄳𑄢 - 𑄛𑄳𑄢 𑄜𑄳𑄢 𑄝𑄳𑄢 𑄞𑄳𑄢 𑄟𑄳𑄢 - 𑄦𑄳𑄢 𑄠𑄳𑄢 𑄡𑄳𑄢 𑄢𑄳𑄢 𑄤𑄳𑄢 𑄥𑄳𑄢

la: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄣

𑄇𑄳𑄣 𑄈𑄳𑄣 𑄉𑄳𑄣 𑄊𑄳𑄣 𑄋𑄳𑄣 - 𑄌𑄳𑄣 𑄍𑄳𑄣 𑄎𑄳𑄣 𑄏𑄳𑄣 𑄐𑄳𑄣 - 𑄑𑄳𑄣 𑄒𑄳𑄣 𑄓𑄳𑄣 𑄔𑄳𑄣 𑄕𑄳𑄣

𑄖𑄳𑄣 𑄗𑄳𑄣 𑄘𑄳𑄣 𑄙𑄳𑄣 𑄚𑄳𑄣 - 𑄛𑄳𑄣 𑄜𑄳𑄣 𑄝𑄳𑄣 𑄞𑄳𑄣 𑄟𑄳𑄣 - 𑄦𑄳𑄣 𑄠𑄳𑄣 𑄡𑄳𑄣 𑄢𑄳𑄣 𑄥𑄳𑄣

wa: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄤

𑄇𑄳𑄤 𑄈𑄳𑄤 𑄉𑄳𑄤 𑄊𑄳𑄤 𑄋𑄳𑄤 - 𑄌𑄳𑄤 𑄍𑄳𑄤 𑄎𑄳𑄤 𑄏𑄳𑄤 𑄐𑄳𑄤 - 𑄑𑄳𑄤 𑄒𑄳𑄤 𑄓𑄳𑄤 𑄔𑄳𑄤 𑄕𑄳𑄤

𑄖𑄳𑄤 𑄗𑄳𑄤 𑄘𑄳𑄤 𑄙𑄳𑄤 𑄚𑄳𑄤 - 𑄛𑄳𑄤 𑄜𑄳𑄤 𑄝𑄳𑄤 𑄞𑄳𑄤 𑄟𑄳𑄤 - 𑄦𑄳𑄤 𑄠𑄳𑄤 𑄡𑄳𑄤 𑄢𑄳𑄤 𑄥𑄳𑄤

No separate conjunct forms of subjoined full-form -yā or -rā appear to exist. The fifth of these conjuncts, the -na conjunct, is exemplary of the orthographic shift which has taken place in the Chakma language.

na: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄚

𑄇𑄳𑄚 𑄈𑄳𑄚 𑄉𑄳𑄚 𑄊𑄳𑄚 𑄋𑄳𑄚 - 𑄌𑄳𑄚 𑄍𑄳𑄚 𑄎𑄳𑄚 𑄏𑄳𑄚 𑄐𑄳𑄚 - 𑄑𑄳𑄚 𑄒𑄳𑄚 𑄓𑄳𑄚 𑄔𑄳𑄚 𑄕𑄳𑄚

𑄖𑄳𑄚 𑄗𑄳𑄚 𑄘𑄳𑄚 𑄙𑄳𑄚 𑄚𑄳𑄚 - 𑄛𑄳𑄚 𑄜𑄳𑄚 𑄝𑄳𑄚 𑄞𑄳𑄚 𑄟𑄳𑄚 - 𑄦𑄳𑄚 𑄠𑄳𑄚 𑄡𑄳𑄚 𑄢𑄳𑄚 𑄥𑄳𑄚

While some writers would indeed write kakna (in ligating style) as 𑄇𑄇𑄳𑄚 or (in subjoining style) as 𑄇𑄇𑄳𑄚, most now would probably expect it to be written as 𑄇𑄇𑄴𑄚. The ligating style of glyphs is now considered old-fashioned. Thus, taking the letter 𑄟 mā as the second element, while the glyph shapes 𑄇𑄳𑄟 kmā, 𑄖𑄳𑄟 tmā, 𑄚𑄳𑄟 nmā, 𑄝𑄳𑄝 bbā, 𑄟𑄳𑄟 mmā, 𑄣𑄳𑄣 llā, 𑄥𑄳𑄟 smā, and 𑄦𑄳𑄟 hmā are attested, most users now prefer the glyph shapes 𑄇𑄳𑄟 kmā, 𑄖𑄳𑄟 tmā, 𑄚𑄳𑄟 nmā, 𑄝𑄳𑄝 bbā, 𑄟𑄳𑄟 mmā, 𑄣𑄳𑄣 llā, 𑄥𑄳𑄟 smā, and 𑄦𑄳𑄟 hmā. Again, this distinction is stylistic and not orthographic.

The 2004 book Phadagaṅ shows examples of the five conjuncts above together alongside conjuncts formed with 𑄝 bā, 𑄟 mā, and 𑄦 hā. These are all formed by simple subjoining.

ba: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄝 nā

𑄇𑄳𑄝 𑄈𑄳𑄝 𑄉𑄳𑄝 𑄊𑄳𑄝 𑄋𑄳𑄝 - 𑄌𑄳𑄝 𑄍𑄳𑄝 𑄎𑄳𑄝 𑄏𑄳𑄝 𑄐𑄳𑄌 - 𑄑𑄳𑄝 𑄒𑄳𑄝 𑄓𑄳𑄝 𑄔𑄳𑄚 𑄕𑄳𑄝

𑄖𑄳𑄝 𑄗𑄳𑄝 𑄘𑄳𑄝 𑄙𑄳𑄝 𑄚𑄳𑄚 - 𑄛𑄳𑄝 𑄜𑄳𑄝 𑄝𑄳𑄝 𑄞𑄳𑄝 𑄟𑄳𑄝 - 𑄠𑄳𑄝 𑄡𑄳𑄝 𑄢𑄳𑄝 𑄣𑄳𑄝 𑄤𑄳𑄝 𑄥𑄳𑄝

ma: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟

𑄇𑄳𑄟 𑄈𑄳𑄟 𑄉𑄳𑄟 𑄊𑄳𑄟 𑄋𑄳𑄟 - 𑄌𑄳𑄟 𑄍𑄳𑄟 𑄎𑄳𑄟 𑄏𑄳𑄟 𑄐𑄳𑄟 - 𑄑𑄳𑄟 𑄒𑄳𑄟 𑄓𑄳𑄟 𑄔𑄳𑄟 𑄕𑄳𑄟

𑄖𑄳𑄟 𑄗𑄳𑄟 𑄘𑄳𑄟 𑄙𑄳𑄟 𑄚𑄳𑄟 - 𑄛𑄳𑄟 𑄜𑄳𑄟 𑄝𑄳𑄟 𑄞𑄳𑄟 𑄟𑄳𑄟 - 𑄠𑄳𑄟 𑄡𑄳𑄟 𑄢𑄳𑄟 𑄣𑄳𑄟 𑄤𑄳𑄟 𑄥𑄳𑄟

ha: X + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄦

𑄇𑄳𑄦 𑄈𑄳𑄦 𑄉𑄳𑄦 𑄊𑄳𑄦 𑄋𑄳𑄦 - 𑄌𑄳𑄦 𑄍𑄳𑄦 𑄎𑄳𑄦 𑄏𑄳𑄦 𑄐𑄳𑄦 - 𑄑𑄳𑄦 𑄒𑄳𑄦 𑄓𑄳𑄦 𑄔𑄳𑄦 𑄕𑄳𑄦

𑄖𑄳𑄦 𑄗𑄳𑄦 𑄘𑄳𑄦 𑄙𑄳𑄦 𑄚𑄳𑄦 - 𑄛𑄳𑄦 𑄜𑄳𑄦 𑄝𑄳𑄦 𑄞𑄳𑄦 𑄟𑄳𑄦 - 𑄠𑄳𑄦 𑄡𑄳𑄦 𑄢𑄳𑄦 𑄣𑄳𑄦 𑄤𑄳𑄦 𑄥𑄳𑄦

In the 1982 book Cāṅmār āg pudhi a much wider range of conjunct pairs is shown, some of them with fairly complicated glyphs:

𑄇𑄳𑄇 Kkā = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄇 Kā

𑄇𑄳𑄑 Ktā = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄑 Tā

𑄇𑄳𑄖 Ktā = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄖 Tā

𑄇𑄳𑄟 Kmā = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 Mā

𑄇𑄳𑄌 Kcā = 𑄇 Kā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄌 Cā

𑄋𑄳𑄇 ńkā = 𑄋 ńā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄇 Kā

𑄋𑄳𑄉 ńkā = 𑄋 ńā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄉 Gā

𑄌𑄳𑄌 ccā = 𑄌 cā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄌 Cā

𑄌𑄳𑄍 Cchā = 𑄌 Cā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄍 Chā

𑄐𑄳𑄌 ñcā = 𑄐 ñā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄌 Cā

𑄐𑄳𑄎 ñjā = 𑄐 ñā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄎 Jā

𑄐𑄳𑄏 Ñjhā = 𑄐 ñā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄏 Jhā

𑄑𑄳𑄑 Ttā = 𑄑 Tā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄑 Tā

𑄖𑄳𑄖 Ttā = 𑄖 Tā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄖 Tā

𑄖𑄳𑄟 Tmā = 𑄖 Tā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 mā

𑄖𑄳𑄗 Tthā = 𑄖 Tā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄗 Thā

𑄘𑄳𑄘 Ddā = 𑄘 Dā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄘 Dā

𑄘𑄳𑄙 Ddhā = 𑄘 Dā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄙 Dhā

𑄚𑄳𑄖 ntā = 𑄚 nā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄖 tā

𑄚𑄳𑄗 nthā = 𑄚 nā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄗 thā

𑄚𑄳𑄟 nmā = 𑄚 nā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 mā

𑄛𑄳𑄛 ppā = 𑄛 pā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄛 pā

𑄝𑄳𑄝 bbā = 𑄝 bā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄝 bā

𑄟𑄳𑄟 mmā = 𑄟 mā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 mā

𑄎𑄳𑄎 jjā = 𑄎 jā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄎 jā

𑄣𑄳𑄇 lkā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄇 kā

𑄣𑄳𑄉 lgā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄉 gā

𑄣𑄳𑄣 llā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄣 lā

𑄣𑄳𑄑 ltā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄑 tā

𑄣𑄳𑄛 lpā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄛 pā

𑄣𑄳𑄍 lchā = 𑄣 lā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄍 chā

𑄥𑄳𑄑 stā = 𑄥 sā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄑 tā

𑄥𑄳𑄇 skā = 𑄥 sā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄇 kā

𑄥𑄳𑄛 spā = 𑄥 sā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄛 pā

𑄥𑄳𑄟 smā = 𑄥 sā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 mā

𑄦𑄳𑄟 hmā = 𑄦 hā + 𑄳 VIRAMA + 𑄟 hmā

Letter, punctuation and digit names

Chakma letters have a descriptive name followed by a traditional Brahmic consonant. These are given in annotations to the character names. Alongside a single and double danda punctuation, Chakma has a unique question mark, and a section sign, Phulacihna. There is some variation in the glyphs for the Phulacihna,some looking like flowers or leaves. A set of digits exists although Bengali digits are also used.

Unicode

Chakma script was added to the Unicode Standard in January, 2012 with the release of version 6.1.

Unicode Character encoding standard

Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard is maintained by the Unicode Consortium, and as of March 2019 the most recent version, Unicode 12.0, contains a repertoire of 137,993 characters covering 150 modern and historic scripts, as well as multiple symbol sets and emoji. The character repertoire of the Unicode Standard is synchronized with ISO/IEC 10646, and both are code-for-code identical.

The Unicode block for Chakma script is U+11100U+1114F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points:

Chakma [1] [2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+1110x𑄀𑄁𑄂𑄃𑄄𑄅𑄆𑄇𑄈𑄉𑄊𑄋𑄌𑄍𑄎𑄏
U+1111x𑄐𑄑𑄒𑄓𑄔𑄕𑄖𑄗𑄘𑄙𑄚𑄛𑄜𑄝𑄞𑄟
U+1112x𑄠𑄡𑄢𑄣𑄤𑄥𑄦𑄧𑄨𑄩𑄪𑄫𑄬𑄭𑄮𑄯
U+1113x𑄰𑄱𑄲𑄳𑄴𑄶𑄷𑄸𑄹𑄺𑄻𑄼𑄽𑄾𑄿
U+1114x𑅀𑅁𑅂𑅃𑅄𑅅𑅆
Notes
1. ^ As of Unicode version 12.0
2. ^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Related Research Articles

Sinhalese script abugida

The Sinhalese script is a writing system used by the Sinhalese people and most Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka and elsewhere to write the Sinhalese language, as well as the liturgical languages Pali and Sanskrit. The Sinhalese Akṣara Mālāva, one of the Brahmic scripts, is a descendant of the ancient Indian Brahmi script and closely related to the South Indian Grantha script and Kadamba alphabet.

Gujarati script alphabet

The Gujarati script is an abugida, like all Nagari writing systems, and is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. It is a variant of Devanagari script differentiated by the loss of the characteristic horizontal line running above the letters and by a number of modifications to some characters.

The Brahmic scripts are a family of abugida or alphasyllabary writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia, including Japan in the form of Siddhaṃ. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India, and are used by languages of several language families: Indo-European, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, and Tai. They were also the source of the dictionary order of Japanese kana.

Malayalam script Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language

Malayalam script is a Brahmic script used commonly to write the Malayalam language, which is the principal language of Kerala, India, spoken by 35 million people in the world. Malayalam script is also widely used for writing Sanskrit texts in Kerala. Like many other Indic scripts, it is an alphasyllabary (abugida), a writing system that is partially “alphabetic” and partially syllable-based. The modern Malayalam alphabet has 15 vowel letters, 36 consonant letters, and a few other symbols. The Malayalam script is a Vatteluttu alphabet extended with symbols from the Grantha alphabet to represent Indo-Aryan loanwords. The script is also used to write several minority languages such as Paniya, Betta Kurumba, and Ravula. The Malayalam language itself was historically written in several different scripts.

Tibetan script abugida used to write the Tibetic languages and others

The Tibetan script is an abugida used to write the Tibetic languages such as Tibetan, as well as Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, and sometimes Balti. The printed form is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script.

Telugu script, an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a Dravidian language spoken in the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as several other neighbouring states. The Telugu script is also widely used for writing Sanskrit texts and to some extent the Gondi language. It gained prominence during the Eastern Chalukyas also known as Vengi Chalukya era. It shares extensive similarities with the Kannada script, as it has evolved from Kadamba and Bhattiprolu scripts of the Brahmi family. Both Adikavi Pampa of Kannada and Adikavi Nannayya of Telugu hail from families native to the Vengi region.

Odia script Historic Brahmic script

The Odia script, also known as the Oriya script) is a Brahmic script used to write the Odia language.

Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) is a coding scheme for representing various writing systems of India. It encodes the main Indic scripts and a Roman transliteration. The supported scripts are: Assamese, Bengali (Bangla), Devanagari, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil, and Telugu. ISCII does not encode the writing systems of India based on Arabic, but its writing system switching codes nonetheless provide for Kashmiri, Sindhi, Urdu, Persian, Pashto and Arabic. The Arabic-based writing systems were subsequently encoded in the PASCII encoding.

Grantha script

The Grantha script is an Indian script that was widely used between the sixth century and the 20th centuries by Tamil and Malayalam speakers in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, to write Sanskrit and the classical language Manipravalam, and is still in restricted use in traditional Vedic schools. It is a Brahmic script, having evolved from the Tamil-Brahmi. The Malayalam script is a direct descendant of Grantha, as are the Tigalari and Sinhala scripts.

Virama is a generic term for the diacritic in many Brahmic scripts, including Devanagari and Bengali script, used to suppress the inherent vowel that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter. The name is Sanskrit for "cessation, termination, end". As a Sanskrit word, it is used in place of several language-specific terms, such as halant ; halant, hoshonto ; ; ; halantu ; pulli, chandrakkala or viraamam ; halanta ; halanta ; halant ; a that ; karan ; and pangkon . In Devanagari and many other Indic scripts, a virama is used to cancel the inherent vowel of a consonant letter and represent a consonant without a vowel, a "dead" consonant. For example, in Devanagari,

  1. क is a consonant letter, ka,
  2. ् is a virama; therefore,
  3. क् represents a dead consonant k.

Mahajani is a Laṇḍā mercantile script that was historically used in northern India for writing accounts and financial records in Marwari, Hindi and Punjabi. It is a Brahmic script and is written left-to-right. Mahajani refers to the Hindi word for 'bankers', also known as 'sarrafi' or 'kothival' (merchant).

Lepcha script

The Lepcha script, or Róng script, is an abugida used by the Lepcha people to write the Lepcha language. Unusually for an abugida, syllable-final consonants are written as diacritics.

Lontara script script traditionally used for the Bugis, Makassarese, and Mandar languages of Sulawesi in Indonesia

The Lontara script is a Brahmic script traditionally used for the Bugis, Makassarese and Mandar languages of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is also known as the Bugis script, as Lontara documents written in this language are the most numerous.

Universal Character Set characters Wikimedia list article

The Unicode Consortium (UC) and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) collaborate on the Universal Character Set (UCS). The UCS is an international standard to map characters used in natural language, mathematics, music, and other domains to machine readable values. By creating this mapping, the UCS enables computer software vendors to interoperate and transmit UCS encoded text strings from one to another. Because it is a universal map, it can be used to represent multiple languages at the same time. This avoids the confusion of using multiple legacy character encodings, which can result in the same sequence of codes having multiple meanings and thus be improperly decoded if the wrong one is chosen.

Bamum script

The Bamum scripts are an evolutionary series of six scripts created for the Bamum language by King Njoya of Cameroon at the turn of the 19th century. They are notable for evolving from a pictographic system to a partially alphabetic syllabic script in the space of 14 years, from 1896 to 1910. Bamum type was cast in 1918, but the script fell into disuse around 1931. A project began around 2007 to revive the Bamum script.

Clip fonts or split fonts are non-Unicode fonts that assign glyphs of Brahmic scripts, such as Devanagari, at code positions intended for glyphs of the Latin script or to produce glyphs not found in Unicode by using its Private Use Area (PUA).

Hanunuo script Abugida indigenous to Mindoro, Philippines

Hanunuo, also rendered Hanunó'o, is one of the indigenous suyat scripts of the Philippines and is used by the Mangyan peoples of southern Mindoro to write the Hanunó'o language.

Kha is the second consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, kha is derived from the Brahmi letter , which is probably derived from the Aramaic ("Q").

Multani is a Brahmic script originating in the Multan region of Punjab and in northern Sindh, Pakistan. It was used to write Saraiki language, often considered a dialect of Western Punjabi language. The script was used for routine writing and commercial activities. Multani is one of four Landa scripts whose usage was extended beyond the mercantile domain and formalized for literary activity and printing; the others being Gurmukhi, Khojki, and Khudawadi. Although Multani is now obsolete, it is a historical script in which written and printed records exist. It was also known as Karikki and as Sarai.

Tanchangya Alphabet is also called Ka-Pat is an Abugida is used for Tanchangya language. It is the southern Brahmic Language Family. Due to its same scripts family, it is little similar with Burmese alphabet, Mon alphabet, and Chakma alphabet.

References

    Further reading

    Kaler Kantho is one of the most popular Bengali newspapers in Bangladesh. It is an enterprise of East-West Media Group, a sister concern of Bangladesh's leading business conglomerate Bashundhara Group. The same group owns Bangladesh Pratidin, Daily Sun, News24, Radio Capital and Banglanews24.